Sarkozy Rising

In French parliamentary elections, Sarkozy’s UMP/New Center coalition has received 42% of the vote and is projected to win between 405 and 445 seats out of 577.  As the Economist graphic shows, Sarkozy’s coalition received essentially all of its gains in this cycle from defections from the National Front.  Sarkozy’s “tougher” policies on crime and immigration and Le Pen’s doddering, pathetic attempt to pander to French Muslims combined to virtually obliterate the National Front as a meaningful nationalist alternative to the center-right.  Expectations that Sarkozyism will deliver on its promised reforms will likely be disappointed, despite the genuinely “huge parliamentary majority” the government will command and the large percentage of voters supporting the governing coalition.